Saturday, November 06, 2010

The Parish System - Close, But No Cigar

I think there is a lot to be learnt from Milbank's criticism of fresh expressions for giving up on society and community and its relationship to God. But, not having read the new book - only Milbank's article from 2008 in Studies in Christian Ethics - my guess is that it doesn't go far enough for me.

Community and society does matter, and for that very reason the parish system presents a problem.

Society is socio-economically divided. Not a profoundly original comment, but when was the last time I found the church recognising this and working against it. Redistribution of parish share is just guilt money! Schools? Yep, ok. More guilt money and evidently ineffective on any significant level.

Up and down the country, parishes are divided along these lines. Even if we set aside the problem of evangelical gathered congregations, full of the like-minded middle-class, the parish system on its own simply christens social division. Rich people live, by and large, in prosperous areas. Poor people live in the housing they can afford. Some parishes do cross boundaries. Many do not.

What would it take for comparatively rich educative Christians to live with and contribute to the community of poorer neighbourhoods?

Perhaps you could say that the parish system isn't broken, but society is. As things stand though, it is too small a unit to effectively combat this.

What would it take for Christians to recognise this and for individuals and families to play their part in turning this upside down?